A Taliban suicide bomber has killed at least three security officers and wounded dozens, mostly children, when he set off explosives in a truck near a police headquarters building in eastern Afghanistan, officials have said.

The spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs, Nasrat Rahimi, said Wednesday's attack in Alishang district, in Laghman province, wounded 36 people, mainly civilians.

Asadullah Daulatzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said among the wounded were 20 children studying inside a nearby religious school, which was also damaged.

"The students were wounded by flying glass," he said. "The explosion was huge."

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed in a statement that fighters had used a large truck, packed with explosives in the attack, leaving dozens of Afghan security forces dead and wounded.  

Rescuers searched through the ruins of buildings destroyed by the blast.

"We, with the rescue teams, are still looking for bodies under the rubble," Obaidullah, a resident, told Reuters news agency. 

The attack came during a relative lull in violence after a presidential election last month that saw a surge in attacks by the Taliban, who denounced the vote as a sham.

The United Nations said 85 civilians were killed in election-related Taliban violence. 

Afghanistan is currently awaiting the results of the first round. 

Al Jazeera